The Underground City (19 page)

“Who
or what the hell’s that?”

“Dante
describes him as a wolf-like demon,” I answered as I took the stairs leading into the prison two at a time. Each of the prison windows was reinforced with thick iron bars that were bolted to the stone walls. When we reached the entryway, I pushed against the thick wood doors and found, to my surprise, that they opened without any trouble.

Inside,
the prison appeared to be ill maintained. The uneven concrete walkway was buckling in places and worn down in others. The walls featured peeling paint and most of the windows were either broken or boarded up with crude pieces of wood. The doors leading into the various rooms were splintered and damaged, most hanging freely from their hinges.

I
glanced down at Bill’s phone and noticed the soul was to our left. “This way,” I said in a small voice as I held my sword above my head and proceeded cautiously. My heart was thumping in time with my footsteps but I refused to allow myself to feel fear for even one second. If I gave into my own feelings of panic and anxiety, I’d be doomed. Instead, I maintained my good posture and focused on my surroundings, sizing up everything around me.

We
passed by a few of the prison rooms which were tiny—maybe ten feet long by eight feet wide. They were also empty of any inmates. The paint inside the rooms was peeling even worse than it was in the hallway, revealing the dark brown of the rock walls. There were a few ancient metal bed frames randomly discarded in some of the rooms, their mattresses long gone.

“It’s
too freakin’ quiet in here,” Bill whispered.

“Yep,”
I answered, never prying my eyes from my surroundings. When we reached the end of the hallway, I stopped alongside the wall and checked the map. We were supposed to continue forward and then take a right turn. Glancing down the hallway, I realized that the open double doors at the end of the hall demarcated the end of this building. That meant we were venturing into another section of the prison. I started forward, and quickly noticed that when we reached the end of the hall, the walkway became uneven cobblestones. We were supposed to make a right turn and then walk underneath the arched walkway directly in front of us. The path continued under the archway before leading left, from where an orange light emanated. With a look at Bill’s phone again, I realized we were headed right for the orange light.

“I
gotta real bad feelin’ about this,” Bill said from where he stood right behind me.

“We
don’t have a choice,” I responded as I started forward, forcing any fear into the back of my mind. I had a job to do and I would do it. End of story.

When
we reached the end of the hallway, I scaled the wall and noted that directly in front of us was an open area that I assumed was the prison yard. Inside were the souls of the damned. They formed a ditch that was in the shape of a large circle. Within this ring, two groups of souls pushed stone wheels, but in opposite directions. The stone wheels were probably six or seven feet tall and each group of souls completed a semicircle before they crashed into one another and had to turn around again, pushing their heavy wheels back in the other direction once more. A few of the souls tripped, and dropped to the ground, but the stone wheels just rolled right over them despite their cries of pain.

Surrounding
the souls were creatures I first mistook for dogs standing on two feet. But upon closer inspection, I realized they were more like wolf men. Standing up, they were immense, maybe seven or eight feet tall. And their bodies were just as massive, comprised of bulbous muscle covered in coarse, pitch black skin. Their heads appeared almost ape-like, with their eyes deeply recessed. They all had snub noses and large, pointed ears with wide mouths and enormous fangs. The only splash of color on their bodies was in their orange, quill-like hair, which grew on their heads, their jawlines and their chests.

Even
though they walked on two legs, they were hunched over with misshapen backs and lumpy, overdeveloped muscles. Their calves weren’t at all human in appearance, looking more like the legs of a hooved beast. Observing them silently, I watched as they moved swiftly, running after the souls of the damned, using their hands and feet, and sinking their teeth or sharp talons into the woeful spirits who wailed with agony.

“After
these last two trips to the Underground, I’m never gonna even consider gettin’ a dog,” Bill whispered as I counted the wolf-men in front of us.

“There
are six of them in total,” I said and nodded as if to suggest we were fully prepared to take on six monstrous demons. Looking down at Bill’s phone again, I added, “We’ve got to get across the prison yard and then we have to go back into the prison.”

“Are
you sure there’s no other way to get to the other side of the prison?” Bill asked. “’Cause I gotta feelin’ that these ugly SOBs aren’t gonna be too happy with us interruptin’ their little tea party.”

I
again referred to the map before looking at Bill. “It appears like the part of the prison that we need to access is separate from the rest of the prison. That, and the map is telling us to go this way; so I’m thinking we need to follow the map’s directions, namsay?”

“Cute,
nips, real cute,” Bill replied with a frown.

“Once
we reach the other side of the prison, we go up to the third floor and our soul should be there waiting for us,” I finished.

“Yeah,
but who’s gonna be waitin’ for us with the soul?” Bill grumbled. “That’s what I wanna know.”

“I
guess we’ll find out.”

With
a deep breath, and a mental reminder not to give in to the feelings of panic and terror that were now merely a breath away, I held my sword above my head. Eyeing Bill with an expression that said I was ready, I stepped into the prison yard. I could detect Bill’s presence beside me from the corner of my left eye, but all of my attention was centered on the creatures before me. Only two of the wolf men noticed us at first. They seemed dumbstruck to see us which gave me the idea that they didn’t get very many visitors. We continued forward until we were separated from them by about ten feet. A few more turned to face us, and one of them bared its myriad teeth, emitting a low growl, before they all did.

“We
are on Afterlife Enterprises business!” I called out, my voice unwavering. “We do not want any trouble.”

The
wolf men continued to growl at us and I wondered if they were capable of understanding language and, if so, if English was among their qualifications. I could only hope so. They made no move to attack us as we continued forward, but instead, watched us from narrowed eyes that glowed white. Once we were halfway across the yard, I whispered to Bill, “Get behind me so my back is covered.” He immediately fell in line and brought up the rear. “You need to be my eyes,” I explained.

A
few of the wolf men began approaching us, and I learned I was way off regarding their height. It was probably more accurate to say that they were closer to nine feet tall. “We are on a mission under the authority of Jason Streethorn!” I yelled at the wolf man now closest to us who continued coming even closer. I watched him kneel down on his haunches with his arms spread wide before him and his palms flat against the ground. His crouching position meant one thing. “He’s going to attack!” I yelled to Bill as I faced forward, my feet shoulder-width apart. I braced myself with my sword held high.

The
wolf man leapt at us and, with my legs still spread, I slid across the ground, moving to my right, and narrowly missing him as he landed on all fours only a foot or so away from me. Facing him, I stood up straight, with my chest and torso aimed slightly forward to maintain my balance. While the creature snorted and pawed the ground, I quickly took stock of my surroundings. The other five wolf men were standing behind this one, but none were in crouching attack positions, although a few of them were coming closer.

“If
the other three attack, you’ve gotta do something to attract their attention,” I whispered to Bill who stood to my left.

“Got
it,” he responded.

The
wolf man directly in front of me continued to stare as it resumed its crouched position before launching itself high into the air with its claws poised to rip apart whatever it happened to land on. Bill jumped out of the way at the same time that I circled around and sliced my sword through the air, with the creature at the bottom of the sword’s trajectory. I felt the blade catching in the demon’s arm. The thing yelped and jumped backward as black goo began bubbling up from its wound, a wound which was far from fatal.

Gripping
my sword with all my might, I stood stock-still, my feet again shoulder-width apart as I faced the demon. After seeing its attack-style, I concluded that it wasn’t highly skilled, but probably accustomed to intimidating its adversaries just by its mere enormity. It was boastful in its attacks, which was the demon’s fatal weakness: something Tallis taught me to look for.

I
maintained my fighting stance, but rather than going on the offensive, I took Tallis’s advice and waited for the creature to come at me. It, meanwhile, paced back and forth, never taking its eyes off me. It appeared to be debating whether to attack me again or return to its post and harass the souls of the damned. When it got down onto its haunches for the third time, however, I knew its intentions.

“Come
on, you ugly asshole,” I whispered. I was so focused on the demon, I had no idea where Bill was or what he was doing. But he couldn’t be killed so I wasn’t going to worry about him. I kept my elbows bent and close to my sides as the creature leapt high into the air again, at an almost vertical arc. Realizing I was dead center in its path, I decided to do something very risky. In a split second, I knelt down onto my knees and rotated my sword so that the hilt was directly in line with my belly button and the blade was facing directly up and away from me.

I
felt the swoosh in the air as the demon landed on top of me, my blade piercing it through the stomach and coming out through its back. It screamed a high-pitched wail that lasted for a second or two before its body went slack. I tried to roll out of the way but was too late and the dead creature pinned me to the ground. The weight of its impact drove my breath right out of my lungs. After a few seconds, I cleared the stars from my vision, but strained against the thing’s oppressive, mammoth body, and had to use every ounce of adrenalin I could muster to push it off me.

“Are
you okay?” Bill asked as he helped to pull the enormous creature away from me. His eyes were wide with concern.

“Where
are the other ones?” I demanded, very well aware that now would be the best opportunity for the other demons to attack us.

“They
all backed away,” Bill answered as he gave me a hand up. Taking it, I sucked in a few deep breaths before assessing the situation around me again. The remaining five wolf men had retreated and were now busying themselves by growling and snarling at the souls of the damned who continued to push their stone wheels around incessantly.

Assessing
my injuries a few seconds later, I happily discovered I was unscathed. Walking over to the now dead demon, I stepped on its chest with one foot while I reached down and gripped the hilt of my sword. I had to pull up on it as hard as I could. The demon’s ribs snapped as my sword emerged. It was a horrible sound I knew I wouldn’t forget any time soon.

I
took another few breaths, allowing the adrenaline that was piquing inside me to dissipate so my heartbeat could return to normal. I needed to constantly maintain my own sense of cool so I wouldn’t lose it and become a hysterical mess.

I
glanced back at the wolf-man pack again just to make sure they were, in fact, attending to their own business. Affirming that they were, I turned to face Bill. “Let’s go get our soul.”

He
nodded as we both jogged the remaining distance of the prison yard. Reaching the double doors that led up to the third floor, Bill pulled one open, ducking his head inside to make sure the coast was clear. He nodded to me and I walked through the doors into the hallway, Bill right behind me.

“That
was like Matrix worthy shit, Lils,” Bill suddenly burst out. “You were like a freakin’ ninja.” Then he karate chopped the air a few times as I checked his phone to make sure we were still going in the right direction. “Fuck that was crazy cool!” he finished with a large grin.

“Okay,
Bill, we need to concentrate now,” I said, knowing that anything could still be lying in wait for us. “This mission is far from over,” I finished as we located the staircase leading to the second floor. Bill took the lead, apparently wanting to scout out the situation for me before I got there, which was fine by me.

“All
clear,” he said once he reached the second floor. I pulled his phone out of my fanny pack and glanced down at the screen. Our soul was located directly above us, but the staircase to the third floor was on the opposite end of the hallway. Bill started down the hall, ahead of me, poking his head into each prison cell. When he reached the end of the hall, he paused at the bottom of the staircase leading to the third floor. With a nod at me, he let me know I was good to follow him. I ran the length of the hallway and stopped at the base of the stairs, watching as Bill started up the staircase. When he reached the top, he craned his neck down the hallway and turned around to face me, waving me up the stairs.